


Kya's Wife

by UselessBard1031



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Firebending & Firebenders, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Republic City, Southern Water Tribe, Useless Lesbians, Water Tribe(s) (Avatar), Waterbending & Waterbenders, based on a oneshot, kyaswife, why does Kya wear a betrothal necklace?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 18:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30127110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UselessBard1031/pseuds/UselessBard1031
Summary: Why does Kya wear a betrothal necklace?~That question sparked a oneshot that sparked this story.Y/N is a girl who has been dealt a bad hand. She has no control over her firebending, her parents sent her to the foster care system, and when she finally gets married to the love of her life, Kya, her sanity seemingly snaps.Kya loves Y/N, always has an always will. She's visited her for years at the asylum. Now, after all this time, Y/N snaps back into reality - back into the woman she fell in love with all those years ago.With Kya's help, Y/N tries to adapt to modern society as well as learn what it was that broke her all those years ago...
Relationships: Kya (Avatar) & Original Female Character(s), Kya II (Avatar)/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	1. Why Does Kya Wear A Betrothal Necklace?

_ “Hey Tenzin, why does Kya wear a betrothal necklace?” _

_ “Well, she’s married.” _

_ “Married? To who?” _

_ “I’m not really sure that’s my place to say.” _

_ “Why not? Did something happen between them?” _

_ “You could say that…” _

Silence sits heavy in a thick fog over the long stone hallway, broken only by the click of the waterbender’s heels. It isn’t often that the woman chooses to dress up, by today is special.

Guards flank her on either side, but she knows she doesn’t need them. Together, the sound of the two men’s heavy footsteps echo the clicking of her heels like the thick dull part of the blade that digs in after the initial slice. Unnecessary, the heavy steps prove only to cut deeper into the already victimized silence. 

_ “Well now you have to tell me.” _

_ “I suppose...it can provide a lesson for you.” _

_ “Yes!” _

_ “Now Korra, don’t get too excited. I’m afraid this story is more depressing than it is dramatic.” _

A picnic basket hangs low from Kya’s arm, swaying with her movements. On the occasionally too heavy step, it swings into her side. She doesn’t notice, her concrete gaze focused on the steadily nearing door at the end of the hall.

_ “They met back when we were children. Y/N was a fire bender. Well, is.” _

_ “So she didn’t die then?” _

_ “No, she didn’t die.” _

_ “Then what happened?” _

_ “If you would be quiet and let me finish the story, you would find out. Good. Now as I was saying, Y/N is a fire bender. This realization coming shortly after her birth was already setting up obstacles that she would never be able to overcome.” _

She comes to a stop not far from the door. Her toes gibe the thinly curling line of blue tape before her, saying  _ ‘I dare you; I dare you to tell me to keep back’ _ . Without her steps to cut it, the silence creeps back in. Thicker than air, it encumbers their lungs, causing hard, silent swallows from all three of its victims. All eyes keep forward. All limbs keep back, behind the line of safety. 

An orange light flashes three times before turning green with a loud and lingering buzz. The noise fights back the cloud of silence once more, continuing to shriek out in echoes even when it finally ends.

When the sound stops, the door slides open, disappearing into the wall.

_ “Y/N’s mother, a non bender named Ro, was married to another non bender, Jin. Neither was from a fire nation heritage. You can see where I’m going with this.” _

_ “So then Y/N wasn’t Jin’s kid, was she? Ro must have cheated on him?” _

_ “Well, that wasn’t officially confirmed until a few years after her birth, but yes. Eventually it did come out that Y/N was not Jin’s child.” _

_ “Then who was her real father?” _

_ “That’s another one of the endless questions that plagued Y/N throughout her entire life” _

_ “You’re talking like she’s dead again. Hm. Okay, so a fire bender with a missing dad. That doesn’t seem too bad all things considered. What happened to her next that was so bad?” _

Kya sits with her feet folded under her, her knees now continuing to tease the taped line that her toes had just moments earlier. She smooths the wrinkles from her dress’s blue skirt with the gentle ease one would use to pet a dog. 

One of the guards steps over the line, into the dim all stone room. The other remains ready to fight by her side.

Tense and rigid, the guard inside the room takes strides more than steps towards the bed on the far back wall. Like a sturdy mountain top casts a shadow on a valley built village, he looks down on the shackled skeleton of a woman that lays curled tightly atop the mattress.

“Hey.” He growls. “Get up. You have a visitor.” 

The woman lifts her head just an inch off of the pillow and the man jumps back a whole step. 

“She looks like she hasn’t eaten in weeks.” Kya notes. Her voice is steady but the guards both notice the twinge of irritation in her words.

She starts to unpack the basket she brought with her as she speaks. She takes great care with unfolding the woven grey blanket and placing the two delicate china plates down on either side of it.

“A month actually.” The man to her side speaks, not once taking his eyes off of the slowly rising woman in the room. Kya shoots him a look half of shock and half of anger.

The woman climbs down from the hanging cot. Rattling chains and a squeaking mattress both new noises that ripple out into the silent foggy air.

“She won’t eat.” He continues, as if reading Kya’s mind. “She was doing fine until a month ago, she just stopped. She won’t tell us why, either.”

She furrows her brows, looking up to watch the woman in the room as she sets up the two fancy wine glasses and sets of napkin rolled silverware.

The shadows from her room and the light from the hall waltz together on the woman’s flush hallowed face. The spindly legs of the shadow flow over the outward curve of the metal mask that covers the lower half of the woman’s face. As she tilts her head, Kya can see where bits of leather that were supposed to keep her comfortable were sliding out of place around the edges of the silver. The inside guard steps forward once more, using his key to unlock the side of this moldering metal veil. 

“Maybe she knew you were coming.” The outside guard suggests. “Maybe she was waiting for you.”

“Or maybe she was uncomfortable.” Kya retorts, a sort of melancholy grief creeping into the words. “That mask is falling apart. She won’t eat if it leaves cuts on her skin. We’ll get her a new one.”

“Yes ma’am.”

_ “Y/N was a bright girl. She picked up her bending rather quickly. However, without a proper teacher, she quickly grew unruly. Her parents weren’t sure how to handle a child whose tantrums could turn into a wildfire as quick as lightning could strike.  _

_ All of this, combined with the stress of Y/N not really being Jin’s child, and their marriage fell apart.” _

_ “What happened to Y/N then?”  _

_ “I’m afraid she was put in the system after that. Sent from foster home to foster home. Most of them didn’t treat her with kindness and none of them gave her access to someone who could help teach her to get a hold on her bending. Eventually she made her way here, to Republic City.  _

_ The foster care director had heard enough complaints over the girl to fill a thousand lifetimes. ‘She’s too reckless’ ‘she’s destructive’. And it wasn’t just Y/N either. It seemed every bending child in the United Republic’s foster care system was having these same complaints. So, the director, running on nothing but hope, came to see my father and the council. She practically begged for help.  _

_ My father figured the only way to truly understand the issue was to take a look at it head on, so he asked her to send one of the problem children his way. She sent Y/N.” _

The inside guard retreats behind the line as quick as he can once the mask is off. The woman stands motionless, waiting.

“The two of you can leave now.” Kya waves a hand as she speaks.

“As you wish.” The guard who had previously been inside the room bow deeply. 

The two men leave. Only when the sound of their hammering footsteps is given into fully by the silence, does the woman in the room finally move.

She lunges forward as far as her chains will allow and roars out a fiery breath. The orange flames claw their way forward, bathing the other woman in a sudden wave of heat. They stop just short of the taped line as if that mark was somehow a stronger barrier than steel, singeing the edges ever so slightly and causing the darkened ends to curl up a little bit more. 

The woman falls to her knees on the other side of the blanket with a fit of laughter that has her holding her stomach in pain. 

“I know.” The waterbender says, unphased. She waits for the woman’s laughter to die out before she continues. She smiles softly. “I missed you too. Happy anniversary, Y/N.” 

She picks a fire lily from her basket and leans forward to place it next to the plate in front of the firebender. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get here as often lately. I’ve had a few close calls protecting the avatar.”

The other woman waits for Kya’s hand to retreat before she picks up the flower. She spins it between her fingers, watching the orange petals blur together like rays of the sun.

Kya continues to talk while she fills both glasses with an expensive red wine. “I’ve told the guards you need a new mask.” 

The firebender growls. Her index and thumb press down slightly too hard, snapping the fragile stem of the flower.

“I know you don’t like it, but you didn’t give them much of another choice when you tried to use your fire breathing to kill my father.” 

_ “My sister was infatuated with Y/N from the very start. Y/N knew it an used her emotions to drag her down with her into all sorts of trouble. My father looked past smoking lilyweed and sending prank ads to the radio because of all the hardships Y/N had gone through. He figured some teenage rebellion was all fun and games. It was only after Y/N and Kya started officially dating that he let his anger get the best of him.” _

_ “Woah, wait, Aang? Angry?” _

_ “It didn’t happen often, but when my father grew furious, I pitied anyone who got in his way. This time, it was Y/N.” _

_ “What did she do?” _

_ “She snapped. I’m not entirely sure why, no one is, but when my father told Kya to break up with her, Y/N went crazy. Kya was able to calm her down...that time. Things only got worse with Y/N’s temper as time went on. Kya always insisted to me that she was different when they were alone but I still believe that’s just her wishful thinking.” _

_ “If Y/N is so bad, why did Kya marry her?” _

_ “Well, I suppose good and bad are subjective terms. To me and most of my family, Y/N was a nightmare, but to Kya, she was misunderstood. A project, if you will. Y/N only stayed with us for a year. Her time in my father’s care proved to him that changes needed to be made to the system so he tried to fix that while also trying to help Kya through her first real heartbreak.” _

_ “They didn’t stay together?” _

_ “Y/N was sent to a new family in a new city. They decided breaking up was for the best.” _

“Take a breath like I showed you before.” Kya tells her “Do you remember how?” 

Y/N’s eyes flick up to meet her wife’s without warning. Her scowl sends a heat to the other woman’s cheeks. She smiles and chuckles lowly. Her eyes go back to the flower.

“Do you remember the fire lilies in that meadow we used to go to?” The waterbender asks. A wave of nostalgia softens her posture and hazes her mind. 

Y/N sets the flower down and movies to pick up the wine. Jealously brews in Kya’s stomach for the glass as it leisurely presses against the other womans lips. 

She presses her own chill glass to her own lips, but it’s not just for a casual sip. She imagine’s Y/N’s lips are the rim of the glass, her tongue is the soft sweet wine that rolls into her mouth. When Y/N drops her glass, so does her once lover. 

“I think it’s about time you eat.” Kya decides. 

A grimace crosses Y/N’s face and she huffs.

“I know you’re sore from the mask.” Kya sympathizes. She retrieves small pre cut sandwich slices from her basket. “But please, Y/N, try to eat something. You’ll starve yourself to death if you go any longer.”

A rumbling chuckle fills the still air, building steadily until all at once the chained woman explodes into belly aching laughter once more. 

Kya calmly places a few triangles of food on both of their plates while she waits for Y/N to calm herself back down. 

A singular conniving boom of laughter catches in the woman’s throat, turning her psychotic and sudden spree of joyous noise into a coughing choking fit. 

Kya kneads her brows together with worry.

“Take a drink.” She instructs. 

Y/N doesn’t listen.

She leans forward over the line and picks up Y/N’s glass. The woman’s irises shrink from saucers down to pennies. Reaching out reflexively, she catches Kya’s hand before she can bring the liquid to her lips. Both women freeze. Y/N stops laughing.

_ “They found each other again much later when they both were grown. Fell in love again. The two of them got married a few months in and even my dad showed up for the wedding. That’s when Y/N snapped again. He wished them nothing but the best yet for some reason, she attacked him. Neither of them was ever the same after that.  _

_ Y/N was sent to a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane on charges of attempted homicide. She plead guilty by reason of insanity of course. She got Kya feeling bad for her and though we all warn her, she still goes to see her as often as she can. Thankfully, less often as of recently.” _

_ “So is Y/N still insane then?” _

_ “According to Kya, yes. But she hasn’t given up hope. A part of me hopes Y/N will never come back to her senses, for I fear what that woman can become with a clear mind.” _

_ “And they still don’t know what set her off?” _

_ “It was something my dad said to her, that’s all we know. Whatever it was, trying to kill him was most definitely an overreaction.” _

Their gazes spoon in the ways that they can’t and together, lost in each others eyes, they live a thousand lifetimes. Y/N’s eyes glaze over with unblinking tears. Kya wants nothing more than to hold her, but fear holds her back from doing anything. Moving, breathing, speaking, all of it pounding at the door that her fear holds shut. Y/N’s irises grow back to a normal size.

“Kya?” Y/N whimpers.

A gasp escapes the waterbender’s lips. In all these years, Y/N had only ever mumbled incoherent babble before. Kya doesn’t want to push it. This sign of recognition, she clings to it like her life depends on it.

Y/N said her name. She wasn’t ready to remember it properly. She hopes Y/N will say it again so that she can take a mental recording. She hasn’t heard that voice say her name in so long.

Her excitement pounds with her other emotions against fear’s door. It almost wins.

“Kya, I’m scared.” Y/N sniffs. 

The woman blinks, sending tears rolling down her cheeks. Her iron grip on her lover’s wrist melts away enough that she’s confident if she were to pull away now, Y/N would let go.

She watches this woman, this amazing woman, the woman that she loves and has loved for so many years, fade back into reality. 

Can it really be her? Can she really be back? Just as suddenly as she was gone?

“Y/N…” Her quivering voice brings her awareness to tears of her own. 

“I don’t like it here.” Y/N bites her lip and sobs. “I’m scared, Kya. I want to go home.” 

Home. 

Home!

With one more mighty kick, the woman’s excitement breaks down fear’s door, squashing the pesky rodent beneath it like a bug underneath a shoe. 

She leans forward, far past the line, into the blanket. Her knees crush the plate beneath her. She doesn’t even notice the way the fragments cut through the thin fabric of her dress or how they dig past it into at her skin. All she focuses on is the fire benders warmth in her arms as she hugs her tighter than one would think is possible from just looking at her size.

Y/N freezes like ice to her touch, a solid form of flame in the tender arms of her liquid lover. And oh, how fluid she seems now. Shaking and sobbing and giggling, you’d think she was the one locked up. All the while Y/N sits there, unmoving as a stone tower.

“We can go home, Y/N.” Kya promises. “I don’t know how, or when, but I promise you I’m going to take you home.” 

“Where is home?”

“With you, Y/N.” The words spill from her lips like the thought has been there for days. 

She pulls out of the hug, but keeps her arms loosely wrapped around her lover and surprises even herself when she continues to speak. “My home is with you. Wherever we are, we’ll be there together.” 

Y/N watches her, really watches her. Her mind clear. Love swells in her heart and she remembers it all, every visit, every anniversary. 

She picks up the broken flower and pushes it into the other woman’s hair with a smile. Kya smiles back. Both of their eyes still glisten with tears.

“I love you.” The words are nearly a whisper but Y/N understands what she means.

“Your dad…” She remembers. “I hurt him, didn’t I?”

“You’re here now. You’re back now.” Kya’s heart races with panic. “Don’t think back to that or I might lose you again.”

“How long did you lose me?” Y/N asks, her fingers pulling gently at a strand of silver hair.   
“Don’t worry about that, Y/N. All that matters is you. I’m finally holding you. I’m finally talking to you. Really talking to you. We’re going to find out, together, what set you off and we’re going to make sure that it never happens again, okay?”

Y/N nods. 

“I love you.” Y/N tells her. “I love you and I want to go home.”

“I’ll get the guards.” Kya smiles and wipes away some of her wife’s tears. 

“Wait!” Y/N stops her from leaving. “Kiss me first. In case I slip away again. I want a kiss first.”

Their lips fit together as though they were made to press up against each other in their deep and passionate kiss. A kiss, that Y/N mentally swears she won’t forget again.


	2. Never Let Me Go

Y/N can hear the shouting even through the thick wall that separates the bathroom she’s in from the courtyard her wife and brother in law are arguing in.

She tries to push back the sounds and instead focus on her face in the mirror but her features don’t feel like her own. This face, it doesn’t look like her own. Not anymore.

Where she remembers smooth, sometimes acne ridden skin there is now waxen wrinkles. Where she remembers full curves of fat and muscle, there are concave hallows and sharp bony ridges. Tiny snakes of scars edge around where the mask used to cut into her skin, above her lips and along her cheekbones.

She reaches her pointer and middle finger up to the corner of her right eye and tugs slightly back into her hairline. The crows feet smooth down. She lets go and they return. She continues this motion, mesmerized by just how quickly she could snap between this face, and the one she used to know.

“You can’t just sneak her out of the asylum and stash her here because she’s now claiming to be lucid!” Her brother in law shouts. Just one more praactical line in a drawn out argument.

“I didn’t sneak her out!” Y/N’s wife argues back. “They let her go! Apparently dad left instructions to set her free immediately if anything were to return her to her former self.”

“And what exactly, returned her to ‘ _ her former self _ ’, hm?” He spits her term with a mocking tone.

“You just can’t see me happy, can you?” Her wife complains. 

“I’m just concerned that she hasn’t really snapped out of anything.”

“Oh that’s bull. You never liked Y/N and you know it!”

“You know what? You’re right. I never liked her.”

“Here we go again.”

“You can do so much better and when Y/N fell into that, that, crazy! It gave you the perfect excuse to leave. But no, you had to stay and hope for her to get better.”

“Of course I hoped for her to get better, she’s my wife. Like you wouldn’t do the same for Pema.”

“Don’t bring my wife into this!”

Y/N releases her eye and brushes her fingers along the ridges of her scars. The snakes seem to slither against her touch, forcing her mind back to how she got them.

_ You can’t escape it.  _ They seem to warn.  _ You’ll hurt them again. You’re a danger. _

Y/N drops her hand to her side with a huff of air. She tilts her head and watches her long damaged hair shift with her movements. It feels heavy on her skull. It feels like it’s tainted in a thick greasy coating of her past. Every dark moment, every ounce of pain and hurt that plagued her all these years, stuck in her hair. Her shield.

She opens a drawer to her left and pulls out some scissors. Amusement pulls at her numb heart. Tenzin still keeps these where his father used to. 

The open mouth of the tool slides up against her split locks, awaiting her order to bite down and cut. Her hand shakes but not with age or fear or cold. She hasn’t lifted her hand this high in ages and it shows. Not wanting to mess it up and look even crazier, she sets down the blade with another huff. 

She continues to stare at herself in the mirror. She watches the way her stickly arms tremble against her weight as she leans into the counter with them. She’s gotten so weak. How would Kya still love her now? How could she? She was weak not only in body but in mind. She couldn’t fight it, that darkness. She couldn’t escape. She’s still not entirely sure how she managed to escape in the end at all. Kya. Kya was the reason.

“So you’re saying Y/N doesn’t count then?” The woman’s wife is irritated beyond belief by now and it shows in everything from the way she stands to the way she speaks with that icy tone. 

“You never got past the honeymoon stage.” Her brother presses, equally as furious but showing some more rigid restraint. 

“So because we still love each other, it doesn’t count as marriage?”

“It’s not that-”

“Yes it is! You just said it was!”

“I just mean that because of what Y/N did to dad at the wedding, you never got to experience what being married was truly like.”

“Oh, so because my wife got locked up and lost her mind for a few years I never knew the hardships of married life?”

“Well, yes, actually.”

Kya scoffs. “Bumi, talk some sense into him.”

“Oh no.” The other brother says. “I’m not getting involved. Y/N and Kya will have to figure this out on their own.”

“Aha!” Kya shouts. “Y/N  _ and  _ Kya. He’s on my side.”

“Well wait a minute I never-”

“He’s not on your side!” Tenzin cuts him off. “He’s on my side. He remembers what Y/N did to dad and the island, right?”

“Well, Lin did just as much damage to the island when the two of you broke up.” The man says, still not meaning it any one way.

Y/N puts the scissors back and retrieves a hair tie. A bun will have to do for now until she can get this heap of guilt and memories off of her head.

She takes a deep breath. When she exhales, the tiniest bit of flame flies from her mouth. She grits her teeth together and inhales sharply. All these years and she still doesn’t have control over her abilities. She takes another deep breath. This one shakes like a rowboat in the ocean, but no flame is set free. 

She nods to herself in the mirror once then pushes off the counter with the palms of her hands and turns to open the door.

“I really don’t want to be on anybody’s side!” The man continues to assure his siblings. 

They look like a pair of hungry dogs backing the only prey they’ve seen in months against the pedestal of the large courtyard statue. 

The statue is of some old dead guy Y/N doesn’t quite remember the name or story of. She had tried to learn all of these dudes at some point to make a good impression on Kya’s father but now, she was lucky if she even remembered her own culture. Memories, are tricky things and as it turns out, if you block them out for decades, you can end up loosing them forever.  
She steps as close as she dare. Unknowingly, she stops at just the same distance as it was from the ends of her chains to the blue taped line outside her cell. She becomes uncomfortably aware of her hands and, not knowing what else to do with them, she laces them together at her bellybutton.

“Don’t tell me all this bickering is about little old me.” She smiles. She says the words with as much force and false bravado as she can muster.

All three faces snap around to face her, their eyes boring deep holes into her skin. She resists the urge to look away. The burning in the back of her throat is soothed by her spit as she swallows hard. She takes another breath, focusing on that instead of their varying looks of judgment. 

Kya shakes free from her anger and surprise and steps closer, embracing this new warm feeling instead. Y/N takes half a step back and then remembers she doesn’t have to. She walks forward too and the women meet halfway with a hug.

“Don’t you worry about us.” The waterbender tells her. “We’ve had lots of arguments over the years and they always get over it eventually.” The men look offended by her claim. 

She pulls slightly away, just enough to look at Y/N’s eyes while still leaving her held in a loose embrace. “Let’s talk about you.” She says. She lifts a hand to the firebender’s sunken in cheek. “How are you feeling? Still here I hope? If you feel at all like you’re fading you can tell me.”

“I’m fine.” Y/N laughs. She gently pushes away her wife’s hand. She can still feel the brother’s eyes pushing into her like spiles into tree bark. She tries to keep her focus instead on Kya’s sapphire blue eyes. “I feel old.” She jokes. “I look it too. When were you going to tell me?”

“Well,” Kya sounds worried, “it has been over forty years.”

Though she knows it’s been a long time, this is the first time Y/N has heard the actual amount of years. Forty years. Forty years she’ll never get back.   
“Y/N...” Kya’s voice calls for the woman’s attention. One look at her wife’s kneaded brows and she knows her shock must show. She forces a soft smile.

“Sounds like I have a lot of making up to do.” Y/N’s voice brings a heat to Kya’s face that has her turning a light shade of red. 

Y/N places a gentle hand on her wife’s cheek. Kya leans into the touch. “Forty years of kisses to make up for. Forty years of I love yous. You waited for me all that time?” She doesn’t need to answer. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if I came back to find out I was alone.” 

She smiles more and steps back, taking in the full sight of the woman. “Look at you.” She muses. “You’ve aged better than I have. You’re still so beautiful, Kya. I love you.” Kya’s blush grows and she smiles at the ground. 

A cleared throat reminds the two that they aren’t alone.

“I hear you haven’t yet forgiven me.” Y/N says to Tenzin. “I’m not sure what I can do to remedy that, but I’ll start with an apology. I’m sorry, for all the pain I caused you and your family. I wasn’t aware of my actions while doing it.”

“Apologies don’t work if you add an excuse at the end.” The airbender grumbles. 

“Tenzin.” Kya scolds. 

“No.” Y/N looks at the ground. “He’s right. I’m sorry.” She lifts her gaze back to the kind eyes of her wife. “Truly. I’m so sorry to you all.”

A cloud of silence as heavy as the one in the asylum now fills the courtyard. It swallows them for a few moments before Y/N breaks back into a smile with a sigh.

“Enough sad talk.” She says. “I want to hear all about your adventures. Everything you’ve been up too since I was gone.” 

***

The setting sun leaves streaks of warm glowing light across Kya’s brass skin. Y/N watches her change from the bed with longing. She wants to badly to hold her close, to kiss a trail along her spine and to have things go back to the way she remembers them. 

Though to her it feels like just yesterday that they were spending half the night giggling in each others arms and trading jokes, she knows for her wife it’s been an agonizing forty years. She doesn’t want to spook her by moving too quickly so for now, sharing a bed is enough. 

The firebender’s chest heats up when the other woman leans slightly into the open dresser drawer to retrieve a shirt. The muscles on her back flex in a way that beckons Y/N forward. 

Before she knows it, she’s sitting up with her knees pressed down softly into the mattress, her fingers brushing her wife’s skin lightly. 

The waterbender freezes at the touch, leaving her torso curved down over the top of the drawer. Her breath releases slow and thin. She turns to Y/N with a gentle smile, straightening as she does so. 

As she pulls the silky blue button down sleep shirt over her shoulders, she speaks. “Impatient as always, huh?” She asks. A half chuckle escapes her lips.

Y/N’s eyes fall to the woman’s now half covered chest, leaving a smoldering trail of embers in their path. She unconsciously wets her lips. A patch of dim velvet spreads over the top of the woman’s chest. Taking this as a sign she’s gone too far, Y/N lifts her heavy eyes back to Kya’s. She smiles.

“I’ve missed you.” She says. The simple sentence cannot express everything Y/N wants to say right now, everything Y/N wants to do, but it can stop her lover’s blush from spreading and it does. 

Y/N sits back, letting her butt press into the bottoms of her feet. “If it’s okay,” Y/N hesitates, “can we cuddle tonight?”

Kya’s brows lift with a quick shallow inhale. The red on her face disappears as she relaxes back into a grin. 

She fastens the buttons of her top as she responds. “I would love to. I’ve missed you as well.”

Both of the women climb beneath the covers, eager to hold each other for the first time in all these years. They face one another, arms draped gently over their love. The heat in Y/N’s chest rises at the closeness and it hits her for the very first time since she’s been freed, just how alone she felt.

Tears fall before she can stop them. She buries her face in her wife’s shoulder, holding her so close they could be mistaken for one.

“I’m here.” Kya tells her. She’s been wondering when this would finally happen. 

She holds her wife as tight as she dare, afraid that if she holds her too tight the frail woman might break. 

Y/N continues to heave silent cries against her shoulder. Soothing minutes pass with Kya calmly stroking her hair. 

When Y/N’s sobs have eased into steady pants, she gives a single command. “Never let me go.”

“I won’t.” Kya responds.

No more words are shared and the two of them drift of into the sweet relief of sleep.

***

_ The trellis wobbles dangerously under Y/N’s weight. Each rotting board threatens to break beneath her step as she climbs, further up towards Kya’s open window.  _

_ The girl’s long hair falls in front of her eyes, causing her to miss a thorn at the edge of one of the creeping eden rose blossoms. She mumbles a curse and brings the bleeding finger to her lips. She makes the mistake of looking down and her eyes go wide. Up was the only option now. _

_ She continues to climb until she can finally reach the windowsill. There’s no trellis left to climb, so she steps her left booted foot up to the very top of one of the long vertical beams that keeps it together instead of at a junction. For her size, she’s surprisingly strong and is able to pull herself up with her arms enough to push off of her foot.  _

_ She smiles into the open window, her eyes finding the other girl’s messy bed instantly. She cocks an eyebrow at the sight. Something is off about the way the covers lay. Almost like she’s not there… _

_ Y/N barely has time to finish the thought before a jet of water is forcing her back. She loses her grip on the windowsill and puts too much pressure on her single balanced foot. The trellis board snaps and she begins to fall. _

_ Her shriek earns her a a mouthful of water that slithers it’s way down to her lungs as it continues to push her back towards the ground. _

_ She hits the ground flat with thud. The trellis wobbles but thank the spirits doesn’t fall down with her. She coughs water up from her burning lungs and groans. _

_ “Ow!” She complains, as loud as she dare.  _

_ Her eyes catch on Kya in the window, both hand over her mouth and her eyes wide. A cloud floats away from the moon, allowing the light to shine down fully on Kya’s bright red face. Y/N chuckles. _

_ “Y/N!” Kya whisper shouts. She places her hands on the windowsill and leans forward, her dark brown hair cascading down the side of the house to just under the window like rapunzel. “Are you okay?” _

_ “I’m fine.” Y/N whisper shouts back, cupping her hands around her lips for added volume. “I was trying to be romantic.” She laughs. _

_ “You sacred me half to death!” Kya scolds. “I thought someone was breaking in.”  _

_ “Will you get down here so we can stop shouting?” Y/N asks, taking in the full perfect view of her girlfriend’s face. How did she get so lucky? “If your parents wake up, I’m dead.” _

_ Kya looks behind her into her room and then back out the window, debating. _

_ “Okay fine.” She finally says. “One minute.”  _

_ She leaves the window only to return a moment later. “Don’t go anywhere.” She adds with grin. _

_ Y/N just laughs, using the time she’s waiting to stand and brush the dirt off of her butt and back.  _

_ The backyard door squeaks open causing Y/N to gasp. She covers her mouth with both hands and pins herself as thin as she can against the side of the house. Her already damaged lungs beg for oxygen but she doesn’t dare breathe. _

_ “Hello?” Kya’s dad calls out into the night. Y/N knows that voice well and knows better than most how it sounds when he’s angry. She is not about to tempt that tone tonight. _

_ She squeezes her face tighter, the sound of her own heartbeat pumping in her ears. _

_ Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. _

_ “Kya.” The man’s voice sounds as though he’s turned back for the house. The name isn’t a question. Y/N’s heart beats faster. _

_ Ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum. _

_ Y/N really need air now, feeling like she just might pass out. She takes the risk of letting in a narrow steady breath, hoping the slight sound will be masked by the two’s conversation. _

_ “Dad.” Kya replies. It’s obvious from her tone that she’s up to something.  _

_ “I heard a noise outside.” The man sounds concerned. “Is everything all right?” _

_ “I saw a racoon badger outside my window.” She lies. “I was startled so I shot some water at it. I was just coming down to make sure it wasn’t hurt.”  _

_ Y/N chokes on her laugh a little too loudly. She quietly gasps and holds her face tighter. _

_ Ba-dum!Ba-dum!Ba-dum! _

_ “Dad!” Kya calls his attention. Y/N makes a mental note to kiss her for that later. _

_ “What is it, Kya?” The man asks her patiently. _

_ “Uh,” She tries to think. “The moon!” She remarks. “It’s almost full.” _

_ “Hm.” The man hums. “I guess it is.” _

_ Y/N can feel the awkward silence radiate out from here.  _

Hurry up!  _ She thinks.  _ I need to breathe!

_ Beats pass and Y/N’s heartbeat only hastens as her lungs grow more and more impatient. _

_ “Get to the racoon badger quickly and then back to bed.” The man finally says. “You need your full nights rest.” _

_ “Yes, dad.” Kya’s voice grows closer as she steps outside, past her father. _

_ “And Kya?” _

_ “Hm?”  _

_ “What are you holding behind your back?” The man quizzes.  _

_ What was she holding behind her back? _

_ “Nothing.” This lie doesn’t come nearly as easily as her last one. _

_ “Hold it out for me to see, please.” He demands. _

_ She sighs, knowing she’s caught and must hand it over because next thing she knows, Y/N is hearing Aang’s voice again. _

_ “Now Kya, we talked about this.” He sounds more disappointed than anything else.  _

_ “But dad,” She protests, “lilyweed is a healing herb. I was going to use it to help the racoon possum.” _

_ “I’ve told you a million times that I don’t care what Y/N says to convince you, you are not allowed to be smoking this.” _

_ “Y/N didn’t say anything.” She lies again. “It’s  _ my _ choice.” _

_ “Just hurry up with the animal.” He sighs. “Your mother and I will talk to you about this in the morning.” _

_ Y/N finally let’s her breath go just as the door is clicking shut.  _

_ Her want to comfort her girlfriend, who stands arms crossed scowling at the door, is overtaken by her need for oxygen.  _

_ Panting, she catches her breath. Then, she eventually turns to face her girlfriend. Her brows pinch together with worry. _

_ “Hey,” she reaches out a hand to catch the sleeve of Kya’s blue sleep shirt, “you okay?”  _

_ “Yeah.” Kya sighs, finally tearing her eyes from the door. “He just gets on my nerves sometimes.” _

_ “I get it.”  _

_ Kya had hastily pulled her hair up in it’s usual fashion before rushing out to see her, but she missed a few pieces. Y/N pushes them back behind the girl’s ear with a soft smile. _

_ “I bet if it was Tenzin smoking lilyweed he wouldn’t care.” Y/N jokes. “Probably say it would help him on his spiritual journey.” She laughs. This gets Kya chuckling too.  _

_ Satisfied by her girlfriend’s smile, Y/N presses a tender kiss onto her lips.  _

_ “Better?” She asks, still holding Kya in a close embrace.  _

_ “Much.” The waterbender nods. “You know your room is across the hall from mine, right? You didn’t have to go outside and squash my mom’s roses.” _

_ “I’ll have you know I took great care not to ‘squash’ a single one of her roses.” Y/N feigns offense before giggling some more.  _

_ “Come on.” She says, pulling Kya towards the side yard. “I planted some more lilyweed in the garden.”  _

_ “In the garden?” Kya laughs. _

_ “I may or may not have convinced your mother that it’s a seasonal flowering plant.” Y/N shrugs, looking up and off to the side with a smirk.  _

_ “What happens when all four seasons pass by with no flowers?” Kya smiles back, her arm still being pulled out in front of her by Y/N. _

_ “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”  _

_ Both girls giggle with hushed voices, ready to enjoy the rest of their night. _


End file.
